The debates of the Round Table “New energy models and optimization of key operations: Trends, Opportunities and Innovation” that will be held in the Technology Auditorium of the “Smart Energy Congress & Expo (SEC) 2022″ on Thursday, November 17, from 13:00 to 2:00 p.m., will be moderated by Félix Marín, Head of Development and Technology Transfer at IMDEA Energy. Representatives of companies working on hydrogen energy systems, energetically flexible buildings or the digitization of large renewable installations will participate at the table.

The IMDEA Energy Institute is a collaborating entity of the ‘Smart Energy & Expo (SEC) 2022’ to be held at the North Convention Center of IFEMA. Madrid, on November 16th and 17th, organized by the enerTIC Platform.

Free registration: https://enertic.org/congreso2022/

Stanford University has published the World’s Top 2% Scientists 2022, a global ranking of the world’s most cited scientists in various disciplines. This ranking, considered one of the most prestigious in the world, is based on bibliometric information from the Scopus database (published by Elsevier). To draw up the final lists, the records of more than 8 million active scientists worldwide are evaluated, taking into account information on the number of citations per publication (h-index) and the relevance of the researcher in the published work (hm-index).

In its latest update, the ranking includes a total of ten IMDEA Energía researchers out of more than 200,000 top scientists, representing most of the Institute’s disciplines, such as thermochemical processes, photoactivated processes, electrical systems, biotechnology, advanced materials, concentrating solar power and systems analysis.

The recognition reinforces IMDEA Energía’s international prestige and the value of the contributions of its scientific staff.

The complete list can be found here

Dr Freddy Oropeza, Marie Sklodowska-Curie fellow and senior assistant researcher at the photoactivated process unit, has been awarded the highly prestigious Ramón y Cajal (RyC) fellowship by the Spanish Government. The Ramón y Cajal grants program of the Ministry of Science and Innovation promotes the incorporation of researchers with an outstanding track record in R&D centres across Spain. The RyC fellowship involves a five-year employment grant and additional funding for research expenses.

Oropeza will complete his fellowship at IMDEA Energy working on the development of advanced electrocatalysts for renewable energy conversion and diversification.

The 4th SFERA-III Training Course for Industry will be organised by ENEA from 7 to 11 November 2022 at ENEA Casaccia Research Center in Italy. This course is designed for engineers, researchers and representatives from European CSP industry and companies who want to be trained on real CSP hardware.

The course focuses on the design and management methodologies for molten salt CSP systems that use linear solar collectors.
The training consists of both theoretical and practical modules . It will include visits, procedures, standards and best practices theoretical and experimental ‘hands-on’ experiences, Knowledge-Transfer and Networking.

It will cover the following topics:

• Molten salts as heat transfer fluids and heat storage media
• CSP plants with molten salts as HTF heat transfer fluid & HSM
• Heat storage medium
• Molten salt processes
• Technologies for CSP molten salt plants
• Practical test cases

• You can download the full announcement & the draft agenda below.

The registration deadline is OCTOBER 31st, 2022.

To apply, please fill out the application form available here and send it to: anja.kruschinski@dlr.de

Class size is limited to 15 participants. Eligible candidates will be informed until OCTOBER 31st, 2022. Standard health and safety measures defined by ENEA for visitors and meetings will apply (details to be given prior to the meeting depending on latest development of the covid-19 pandemic). These will include national ID card or passport, social distance, facemask during the lesson is strongly recommended as disinfection of hands.

No course fee is applicable. Accommodation and travel costs shall be covered by the participant. Lunch is offered by ENEA.

Contact:  Walter Gaggioli (ENEA), Tel.: +39 0630486212, E-mail: walter.gaggioli@enea.it and Luca Turchetti (ENEA), Email: luca.turchetti@enea.it

IMDEA Energy is developing new materials for a sustainable future. This is the case of Nanostructured Conjugated Porous Polymers, nanoCPP, protected by two patents, one of which is pending in Europe. Due to the remarkable properties of Conjugated Porous Polymers such as high micro- and mesoporosity, light harvesting, high conductivity, and great thermal, chemical and photostability and the processing attributes that provides nanostructuring, that are not available in bulk synthesized materials, the nanoCPP, can be used for a wide range of applications in markets with big growth expectations:

• Thin films and coatings, especially for electrodes, electrochemical devices, photovoltaic applications and dye sensitized solar cells.
• Catalysts and chemical reactions: oxidation, charge carriers, photocatalysts,… They can be applied in new processes for environmental improvement and the production of sustainable fuels.
• Polymeric membranes.
• Gas storage.

The developed technology combines:

• The process to synthetize different nanoCPP with properties that combine high micro- and mesoporosity, and great thermal, chemical and photostability, as well as other properties that may be tailored for the different applications such as light harvesting, conductivity, etc.
• The development of new synthetic methodologies that improve and facilitate the scale up for their industrial production as well as the processability of nanostructured materials by reducing the particle size to a nanometer range and achieving, at the same time, control of particle size to obtain a smaller dispersion.
• The different materials nanoCPP, including hybrid materials and inorganic semiconductors, with particular applications according to their chemical composition, structure and properties. In addition, nanoCPP can be processed in liquid phase in order to be applied in thin layers or using plastic technologies such as extrusion, injection, etc.

The innovative materials developed at IMDEA Energy will be presented by the senior researcher Marta Liras in the “Sustainable Future” panel focused on materials for sustainability to be held on November 15th 2022 at 14:40 in Barcelona organized by Puzzle X, the leading global platform for frontier tech for sustainable future, together with the Smart City Expo World Congress.

On the closing day of the SolarPACES 2022 Conference, SolarPACES Chairman Gilles Flamant presented the award to Dr. Christoph Falter, now at Synhelion, on behalf of Bauhaus-Luftfahrt, Dr. Johannes Grobbel, on behalf of DLR, Dr. Alon Lidor, on behalf of ETH Zurich, and Dr. Charles-Alexis Asselineau, on behalf of IMDEA Energia, for the Sun-to-Liquid project. Alon Lidor, on behalf of ETH Zurich, and Dr. Charles-Alexis Asselineau, on behalf of IMDEA Energia, for the Sun-to-Liquid project; the development of a solar-powered jet fuel technology for the aviation industry.

Read more.

This is a new award for this project, which last year was recognised with the ‘Energy Globe World Award 2021’, one of the world’s most renowned environmental awards organised by the independent Austrian Energy Globe Foundation, and with the ‘National Energy Globe Award Spain 2021’, in recognition of the most outstanding environmental project in Spain.

Together with IMDEA Energía, the SUN-to-LIQUID consortium includes other research centres and companies involved in the thermochemical production of solar fuels, such as Bauhaus Luftfahrt e.V., ETH Zurich, DLR, Abengoa, ARTTIC and HyGear.

The most relevant patents and technologies outcome of the research work of IMDEA Energy will be presented at Patents for innovation, P4i,event that will be held in La Nave, Madrid, on October 26th and 27th, 2022. The patents and technologies that will be exhibited can be found here, the most relevant are the following:

• Advanced flow batteries (patents P201630327 Redox battery with immiscible electrolytes and PCT/EP2021/059865 Redox flow battery with immiscible electrolyte and flow throughelectrode). A flow battery is a type of battery that is recharged by means of two solutions contained within the system and separated by a membrane. The exchange of ions through the membrane provides the flow of electrical current, while the two liquids circulate in their respective spaces. Its main advantages are a much higher longevity than most conventional rechargeable batteries and the separation of electrolytes. We propose a redox flow battery based on, at least, one continuous flow electrode and immiscible electrolytes (ie liquid electrolytes insoluble with each other, which when in contact separate into two phases). The battery has the following advantages:
  • Reduced operating and manufacturing cost compared to other redox batteries.
  • Increased energy density.
  • Greater robustness and durability.
  • Capable of working in a dynamic state at high flow rates.
  • Reduction of overpotentials.

• Nanostructured Conjugated Porous Polymers NanoCPP (patents P201730445 Conjugated Porous Polymers, materials comprising them, method of preparation and use thereof and EP22382566.2 Method for preparing conjugate porous polymers and uses thereof). Both Conjugate Porous Polymers, CPP, and Nanostructured Conjugated Porous Polymers, nanoCPP, can be used for a wide range of applications, including gas storage, catalysis and optoelectronics, due to their remarkable properties such as high micro- and mesoporosity, light harvesting, high conductivity, and great thermal, chemical and photostability. NanoCPP shows processable properties which are not available for CPP synthesized in bulk. The technology combines:
  • The process to synthetize different nanoCPP with properties that combine high micro- and mesoporosity, and great thermal, chemical and photostability, as well as other properties that may be tailored such as light harvesting, conductivity, etc.
  • The different materials, nanoCPP, with particular applications according to their chemical composition, structure and properties. In addition, nanoCPP can be processed in liquid phase applying them in thin layers or using plastic technologies such as extrusion, injection, etc.

• New materials to remove emerging contaminants and for electrolysers and fuel cells (patent P201931095 Metal-organic networks based on pyrene-phosphonate). We propose a patented metal-organic network, MOF, type material that is very stable, recyclable and has zero or low potential toxicity based on the pyrene-phosphonate ligand. The patent also protects the procedure for its synthesis. The material is useful for:
  • Remove emerging contaminants from water. Contaminants can be removed by selective adsorption, photodegradation, or both in continuous or batch flow. Compared to classical adsorbent materials (carbons, zeolites, silicas) its advantages are: greater porosity, comparable stability, active centers to capture and degrade contaminants (some function as catalysts) and easy modification to achieve the desired properties.
  • Electrolytes for proton exchange membrane fuel cells and electrolysers.

• Recyclable batteries (patent PCT/EP2021/073842 Recyclable Electrode Cell). We propose to apply an assembled battery concept with semi-solid injectable electrodes to facilitate the recycling of active materials and to reuse the inactive parts of the battery. In the injectable battery, the electrodes are not fixed in a current collector but are injected as a semi-solid material that enables the direct recovery of active materials through their expulsion from the cell. It allows to reuse all the passive components (current collectors, separators, casings,…) and the substitution of the electrode materials. When recycling, crushing is avoided and the following battery recycling stages are simplified. Advantages:
  • Contribute to battery recycling, material recovery and the circular economy.
  • Increase in the volume of metals recovered and in the economic profit.
  • Compliance with new regulations.
  • Simplification of recycling processes and reduction of their cost.

• GreenH2armony – Harmonised life-cycle indicators of hydrogen (Intellectual Property application number M-000336/2019 Computer Software “GreenH2armony” and Spanish Trade Mark 40005690). The goal of this software is to provide a sound database of life-cycle indicators for a wide range of hydrogen fuel options, which is intended to be used in robust comparative LCA studies. The tool –starting from carbon footprint, energy footprint and acidification values provided by the user and requesting straightforward information about the original study– computes the corresponding harmonised life-cycle indicators of hydrogen. Moreover, the tool automatically generates a report including not only the harmonised results but also their ranking within the current library of harmonised environmental indicators (which includes a large number of hydrogen options). It is a guided process that allows a very fast calculation of environmental indicators of hydrogen.

The Institute will be present at the stand of the Community of Madrid, where it will also exhibit a recyclable battery prototype and will participate in the B2B business roundtable.